Sermon On The Mount: Unqualified Judgement

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Matthew 7:1-5 (NKJV)

Jesus did NOT condemn politicians, prodigals, adulterers, foreigners, sinners, or demon-possessed lunatics; 

  • NOT Peter, who denied that he knew Him;

  • NOT the disciples who abandoned Him;

  • NOT the tax collectors, who stole money;

  • NOT the fickle fans who cheered, then cursed Him;

  • NOT people who had different values;

  • NOT the Romans who nailed Him to a cross.

He only condemned one group of people: religious hypocrites.

'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in... Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers... For you pay tithe... and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel' (Matthew 23:13-24).

Jesus is clear throughout his ministry (and his anger in Matthew 23), where accusing Christian fingers must point:

  1. Inward…, at our own filthy, dirty, little selves. But Spirit-filled saints can drop that finger! Jesus took our guilt, hung it on His Cross, and cleansed us with Blood– to make us new, redeemed, and innocent!

  2. Downward… to the places our enemy calls home, that we can recognize his devices. One of them is religious hypocrites. Some are in control of Christian churches. They are Satan’s most dangerous device!

Consider the Greek root of ‘hypocrite.’ It’s 'hypokrites.’ which means 'STAGE ACTOR.'

Jesus labeled faith leaders 'stage actors,’ since their swelling sermons were filled with lies. 'On the outside, you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness' (Matthew 23:28).

Actors, models, and talent for Christ: God loves irony, and how ironic... that YOU, His bright new stars, are stage actors. You’re a new generation born of the old!

  • You turn Christian ‘religion’ ‘Upside down' (Acts 17:6),

  • While you turn God’s Commission right side up.

  • You don’t judge the world, since Jesus didn’t.

  • You follow your Director's Script. You love!

Sermon On The Mount: Unqualified Judgment (Part 24)

* Etymology Dictionary

NOTE: This is a 2023 update of a 2013 Carey Lewis Devotion. You may see notes to 'Actors, Models & Talent for Christ.' If you think you're not in show business, think again. Shakespeare said, 'All the world's a stage and all its men and women merely players. Mostly true. But you're not merely players. You are messengers and ambassadors for the King of kings.

Carey Arban